Artists&#39; supply cases



May 27, 1969 L. M. BLAcKMoN ARTISTS' SUPPLY CASES Filed March 22, 1966 United States Patent O M' 3,446,337 ARTISTS SUPPLY CASES Laura Mae Blackmon, 4338 Emory Road, El Paso, Tex. 79922 Filed Mar. 22, 1966, Ser. No. 536,334 Int. Cl. B44d 3/04 U.S. Cl. 20G-1.7 4 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates in a broad sense to artists equipment arranged in convenient compartments in a perpendicular case in such 'a manner that when the case is open and standing upright on a table, all materials are easily .accessible and recognizable by the artis t. The advantages of this upright case open and in position tobe used and then closed and remaining in the same position for carrying will be recognized by those skilled in the arts.

The artist usually supplies himself with a carrying case of some type in which are carried tubes of paint, brushes, different liquids for mixing with paints and others for cleaning the brushes. The disadvantages of these containers is the horizontal or liat position when open and changing to a perpendicular position when closed for carrying which leaves everything inside jumbled together in a disorderly manner as well as spilling liquids and the fragile bristles on relatively expensive brushes are left in an unusable condition. Also many artists tubes of paint become smeared with paint and bent out of shape, with the inside contents unrecognizable after being used and jumbled together in other artists cases.

This case eliminates the frustration for the artist of trying to locate particular individual tubes of paint as each tube has its individual compartment with the artist able to choose the arrangement most suitable to his individual needs. The artist will recognize the individual compartments and the area available for receiving a smear of paint from each tube as a great advantage. He may choose to arrange his tubes of color according to primary and secondary colors or according to complementary colors which gives him a more scientific approach to painting.

The palette is placed conveniently and easily and securely in the middle compartment against all tubes of paint serving as an additional retainer for all tubes of paint. Upon opening the case the artist finds everything in its place, and there will be no wasting of time by searching for a specific tube of paint.

Included in this upright case are two very simple and space saving brush holders consisting of a spring attached into a storage space when the case is closed and then removed and clipped into place convenient for use by the artist when the case is open for convenient display of all materials. This spring may be used by the artist to hold brushes with paint on them to be used or it may be used to hold brushes suspended above the bottom of a container holding cleaning fluid. There is also a compartment 3,446,337 Patented May 27, 1969 for holding such container. The persons skilled in the arts will readily recognize the damage to a brush if left in a container of cleaning iluid with bristles resting on the bottom, or to the bristles of a brush that may become pressed against a solid surface. Therefore there is an additional compartment for the protection of the artists brushes when the case is being carried or when the brushes are not in use. The upright design of the case and the same carrying position as the open position serves as a brush protector as the brushes will be placed in the compartment provided with bristles up and with the swivel holder in position at the top of this compartment assuring complete protection for the brushes and easy availability when the artist desires to obtain a brush from the case.

There is clearly a need for an organized artists case that protects and keeps his materials in an organized manner Whether open being used or being carried or jostled from place to place and at the same time carries all features an artists desires eliminating the carrying of any materials outside his case.

Other objects of the invention and the advantages thereof will be apparent from the following detailed description taken with the annexed drawing, in which FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of my improved artists supply case in closed position;

FIGURE 2 is a plan View of the open case;

FIGURE 3 is a view in vertical elevation of the open case showing the disposition of the brushes when not 1n use;

FIGURE 4 is a similar view with the palette removed showing the brushes in place during a painting session, and

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 5-5 of FIGURE 3 showing the tube containing compartments.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, my case in its preferred form consists of a main compartment or box to which are hinged cover boxes 11, 12 with the open faces of the cover boxes opposite the open face of the main box when the case is closed. Referring to the box 10, the same is comprised of a plurality of horizontally disposed shelves 13, 14, 15, FIGURE 4, which extend for the length of the box and are preferably flush with the vertical sides 16 of the box 10. Partitions 17 extend upwardly from each shelf at spaced intervals. Covering the lower part of said partitions is a strip 18 which thereby creates a plurality of compartments 19 of a size adapted to hold tubes 20 of paint which extend well beyoud the upper edge of said strips. It is a feature of my improved case that the portions of the strips 13-15 beneath each tube is adapted to receive a plate having a suitable surface 21 which may receive a smear of paint from the tube above, thereby facilitating the choice of paints by the artist.

Adapted to serve as a cover for the box 10 is a palette 23 which is removably held in place yby means of clips 24, 24 of U-shape which open to the left of FIGURE 3 and a clip 25 which is swivelled on a screw 26 in left side 16 of the box. Thereby when the clip 25 is moved below the surface of the palette 23, as permitted by the cutout portion of the same as seen in FIGURE 3, the palette may be slid in the direction of its long axis to the left of said ligure so as to be free of its clips 24 and thereby removed.

Open faced box 12 preferably has provision for holding brushes and also containers for necessary liquids, as for example, painting mediums, linseed oil, turpentine or other liquid substances useful either for diluting paint or cleaning brushes. Vertically extending partitions 28, 29 forrn two brush holding compartments which may also contain one or more palette knives and pencils. For maintaining the brushes in place a bar 31 is swivelled on screw 32 so that when moved to a vertical position it enables the brushes to be removed from the compartments when desired. For holding the brushes during use a coil spring 33 may be disposed in the space at the upper end of conipartment 34 by being welded or otherwise attached to a plate 33a, which in turn is removably held by screws 32 attached to the top of box 12 passing through bayonet openings not shown in plate 33a. When the case is in use the spring 33 and plate 33a may be removed from the top of said compartment and disposed on screws 35, 35 is a cross piece 36 joined to shelf 36a. In this position, the spring is held outside of the box 12 as shown in FIGURE 4 thus enabling the brushes to be picked up or replaced with extreme ease. As there shown compartment 34 holds cans 37, 37 which may be used to hold brush cleaning uid, whereas the lower compartment 38 created by the cross piece 36 may hold a can 39 of desired material, as for example, linseed oil. As shown in FIGURE 4, the brush 39a may be held with the bristles dipped in cleaning fluid in can 3911. It may be so held that the bristles do not touch the bottom of the can thereby causing injury to the bristles. Also, they are not jammed against the top of the case but stand on their ends at allV times whereby the bristles are not bent with consequent damage thereto when not in use.

Similarly box 11 may likewise have upper compartments 40, 40 etc. for holding paint tubes, as for example, those of a larger variety than tubes 20. Also a coil spring 41 normally held at the top of box 11 by a plate 41a, similarly spring 31, may be disposed when required on cross piece, or strip, 42 by means of screws 43 similar to the arrangement of coil spring 33. Shelf 44 to which strip 42 is attached forms the top of a lower compartment for storage of cans 45, 45 which are held in place by strip 46.

The operation of my improved case will be quite obvious to those having use for same. When the painting session is over, the brushes will be removed from the coil springs 33 and or 41 holding same and the latter replaced entirely within the boxes 11, 12 as the case may be, all as shown in FIGURE 3 the arrangement of the parts permitting the user to organize his materials according to various preconceived plans. The case shown closed in FIGURE 1 is secured by means of a closure 47 which includes a hasp 48. The case may be carried by means of handle 49 attached to box 10. Boxes 11, 12 preferably have registering offsets 50, 51, FIGURES 1 and 2, to facilitate opening and closing of the case. The case as shown is made of wood, although plastic or metal may be used if desired. Also, the cover instead of consisting of two pieces may consist of one piece only. In lieu of springs for holding the brushes, magnets may be used provided the individual brushes contain magnetic material serving as armatures.

Various other changes will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. An artists supply case consisting of:

a rst open faced upright box and two other upright open faced boxes hinged thereto and constituting a cover therefor with the open face of the first upright box facing that of the boxes constituting the cover,

at least one of said boxes having a plurality of horizontally extending shelves,

partitions spaced from one another extending upwardly from said shelves,

a horizontally disposed retaining strip forming with said shelves and with said partitions a plurality of enclosed spaces adapted to hold and display tubes of paint, and

a removable cover for said rst box, the same constituting a palette and an additional retainer for the tubes of paint, held in place at two points with fixed clips and at the third point opposite said rst points with a clip adapted to be moved so as to release said palette. to release said palette.

2. The artists supply case according to claim 1 in which said retaining strip has a surface beneath each tube adapted to receive and display a sample of the color of the paint from the tube above it.

3. Artists supply case according to claim 1 in which the upright boxes constituting said cover have brush retaining compartments therein to hold brushes in a perpendicular position with bristles always up and retained within the compartment by means of a swivel attachement when container is closed, thereby constituting a brush protection compartment, together with a brush holding device, together with means for removably holding same within the case when the case is closed, together with means for removably holding said brush holding device exteriorly thereof when the case is in an open position whereby said brushes are conveniently held for ready utilization by the artist or for proper cleaning by suspension above a container of cleaning agent.

4. The artists supply case according to claim 3 in which said brush holding device consists of a coiled spring which is attached to a at, thin, rectangular plate which plate contains bayonet openings for convenient attachment to means provided at two positions on said case.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,086,735 2/1914 Spaulding 206-l.7 X 2,071,169 2/1937 Killik 20G-1.8 2,357,555 9/1944 Seaton 206-12 2,370,941 3/ 1945 Dawson 206-12 2,940,200 6/ 1960 Endlich 206-1.7 X 2,999,583 9/1961. Mancini 206-12 3,058,579 10/ 1962 Morin et al. 206-12 3,254,756 6/1966 Rankin 206--1 MARTHA L. RICE, Primary Examiner. 

